“We value uncluttered lives, which free us to love boldly, give generously, and serve joyfully.”
Access digital exclusive resources including: prayers, music, sermon outlines, interactive art projects, and worship practices.
Additional resources for all categories are available in the downloadable Compelling Worship workbook.
Prayer
Forming Us Into a Unified, Faithful Community
Prayers designed to help individuals, leaders, and congregations of all shapes, ages, and sizes pray with a common heart, aligning our voices with God’s purposes and with one another.
A Corporate Prayer of Simplicity | Recording
By Ryan Stockton, Marsh Creek BIC
God of grace,
You have always called Your Church to live differently—
To reject the idols of wealth and hurry,
To bear witness through contentment and compassion.
May our community be known not for abundance of things,
But for abundance of love.
Not for polished appearances,
But for deep, joyful service.
Shape in us the spirit of the early Church:
Faithful in little,
United in heart,
Freely giving because You are enough.
Teach us that in releasing what we cling to,
We are freed to hold one another more tenderly.
Help us to love boldly, not safely.
Help us to give generously, not sparingly.
Help us to serve joyfully, not dutifully.
May our lives be a quiet testimony to Your abundance.
Let the simplicity of our lives preach a different witness
In a world burdened by simultaneous excess and want.
Through Christ, our sufficiency and peace,
Amen.
A Personal Prayer of Simplicity | Recording
By Ryan Stockton, Marsh Creek BIC
Lord of plenty and Spirit of peace,
Let me not be owned by what I own.
Help me to choose less,
So that I can offer more—
Help me love with courage,
Give with joy,
And serve without fear.
In the all-sufficient grace of Christ,
Amen
Living Simply Prayer
By Jacob Harrison, Paramount BIC
Our Heavenly Father, to you who, through your Son, invite us to pray simply for our daily bread, to you who clothe the lilies of the field and feed the birds of the air, we pray: help us to trust you.
Free us from bondage to love of wealth and satisfy us in your presence. Enable us to give generously, remembering that a cheerful giver delights you. Let us hunger for your righteousness, and your kingdom, that we may be satisfied fully in you. Amen.
Music
Facilitating a Shared BIC Identity Through Music
We’ve selected five songs centered on Living Simply to serve as a resource for musical worship and as a catalyst for new creativity and imagination. For each featured song we’ve provided all the information you need to use it in your next worship service, including:
- links to download chord charts and lead sheets (some free!)
- optimal keys
- licensing coverage
- recordings
Access Song Recommendations & Resources
Give Me Jesus
Traditional
Song Perspective: Personal
Optimal Keys: A, Bb, C
Licensing Coverage: Public Domain
Chart/Lead Sheet: CCLI, praisecharts
Recording(s): Beyond Measure (Jeremy Camp); Home (Fernando Ortega)
Great is Thy Faithfulness
T. O. Chisholm/W. Runyan
Song Perspective: Personal
Optimal Keys: Bb, C, D
Licensing Coverage: Public Domain
Chart/Lead Sheet: Compelling Worship, #24 HPW*
Recording(s): Worship Circle Hymns (Christy Nockels)
I Surrender All
J.W. Van Deventer/W.S. Weeden
Song Perspective: Personal
Optimal Keys: Bb, C, D
Licensing Coverage: Public Domain
Chart/Lead Sheet: CCLI, Reawaken, #382 HPW*
Recording(s): Hymns of the Spirit (Reawaken Hymns); Family Nights, Vol. 2: Day for Singing (Mission House)
My Worth Is Not In What I Own
G. Kendrick/K. Getty/K. Getty
Song Perspective: Personal
Optimal Keys: C, D
Licensing Coverage: CCLI, Multitracks.com
Chart/Lead Sheet: CCLI, praisecharts
Recordings: Facing a Task Unfinished (Getty)
Slow Me Down
K. Bluett/L.A. Jordan/M. Kaemingk/S. McCracken/W. Kimbrough
Song Perspective: Personal
Optimal Keys: C, D, Eb, E
Licensing Coverage: CCLI
Chart/Lead Sheet: Compelling Worship
Recording(s): Worship for Workers (Porter’s Gate)
Additional Songs
Morning by Morning (Pat Barrett), Not in a Hurry (Will Reagan), Nada Te Turbe (Taize), Centering Prayer (Porter’s Gate), I Surrender (Hillsong)
*Hymns for Praise and Worship © 1984 Evangel Press
Word
Teaching and Studying Our BIC Core Values
The act of reading Scripture together is itself an experience of God’s love, through which we preach to our hearts the good news of Jesus, and reshape our experience of the world around this reality. Through sermons, teaching, and corporate study, our core values move from being abstract ideas to convictions written on the hearts of each one of us. These sermon outlines are designed to equip churches to teach and study through our BIC core values.
The outlines for Living Simply begin on page 103 and include:
- Freedom of Living Simply | 1 Timothy 6:6-10
- The Secret of Simplicity | Philippians 4:10-13
- What You Treasure | Matthew 6:19-24
Art
Engaging All Five Senses
A survey of God’s creation reveals works that engage all five of our senses. Yet, when we engage in corporate worship, we tend to rely on only one or two senses. What if we broke out of the mold and engaged all five senses God has created?
These ideas are meant to give you a starting place to explore new ways to worship. Use your creativity to adapt them to your specific setting and context. Involve all generations in exploring these ideas together!
Flower Arrangement
Invite congregants to pick flowers around their yard and/or church property to create beautiful arrangements. As they are picking, recommend they meditate on God’s beauty and care in creation. Scriptures such as Matthew 6:25-34, Psalm 103:13-18, and Isaiah 61:10-11 might be used to enhance the experience.
Flower arrangements could then be placed around the sanctuary, gathering areas, and/or used on tables for a meal gathering. Bouquets could also be taken to senior living facilities and given as gifts to cheer another’s day!
Alternatively, invite a florist to come and teach about flower arranging. Often flowers and colors are symbolic in their meaning so you might be able to work together to create bouquets out of flowers that represent contentment, peace, hope, joy, or any other topic that seems fitting for your gathering.
Practices
From Spectators to Active Participants
These practices aim to whet our spiritual appetites with many different practices that can help us to live lives of worship with our church families. Some practices may seem out of your comfort zone as a congregation, but you may be surprised to observe the reactions that come from trying something unexpected in the life of the church. There is so much beauty in seeing a congregation transform from a group of spectators to active participants in meaningful worship.
Phone-Free Worship Experience
Invite the congregation to experience a time of worship without access to their phones. This could be a Sunday in which no phones enter the place of worship. Another option could be to have a space in the front of the room where each person can lay down their phones (that are turned off or silent). This could be an intentional time of setting aside distraction to be present with God and with one another. When all phones are left in the front, invite a time of prayer and quiet meditation.
“Clear Your Clutter” Drive
Host a “clear your clutter” day at your church. Make a resource list of local organizations that accept specific types of donations, and dedicate areas of your parking lot to each of those organizations. Invite people with trucks to donate the use of their trucks for the day, and as those from your church bring loads of unwanted usable items from their homes, a team of organizers can sort the items into donation categories (electronics, furniture, books, school supplies, baby supplies, dump, etc.). Trucks will get loaded up and sent to their designated organization, and there is a mutual blessing of the church finding those who can benefit from their excess.
Schedule Pruning
Spend time as a church community discerning which ministries and routines are in place in the life of your church that are filling the schedules of your church family without producing lasting fruit for the kingdom. Intentionally and prayerfully prune activities or ministries that may have run their course so that there is space in your church family’s schedules to be available to others and open to God’s Spirit.